Samsung Electronics estimates that its operating earnings more than halved in the third quarter from a year earlier amid a continued slump in the global chip market, but the performance beat market expectations.

Samsung said in its preliminary earnings guidance on Tuesday that operating profit was estimated at seven-point-seven trillion won in the July-September period, down 56-point-two percent from a year earlier. The figure is a 16-point-seven percent increase from the previous quarter, however.

The tech giant estimated its overall sales increased ten-point-five percent on-month, but fell five-percent-three percent on-year to 62 trillion won in the cited period. 

Both the sales and operating profit figures exceed the market consensus of six-point-15 trillion won and seven-point-one trillion won, respectively.